| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| jpage4500 |
Posted - Sep 28 2006 : 11:57:21 AM
Help!
I frequently keep 2 VC++ instances open (VS6). With the latest version of VAX one of the instances is crashing often!
The message I typically get in 1 window is "Waiting for other instance of Visual Studio to flush db..". This message never seems to go away while I can see in the process manager the memory keeps going up and up for the other instance. I have no choice but to kill the other process to get control back!
Please help to fix this if it's related to VA 1535
thanks
joe |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 17 2007 : 06:59:09 AM
this is being discussed via email with both RickA and kate_m |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 16 2007 : 2:14:18 PM
Sorry, this is a bit of a monster post! I have no idea what happened when i got the FOO:: exception. I only noticed it because i've got a into a habit of looking at errors.log periodically. I was _probably_ only using one IDE because i've only really been working on one project lately, but i can't say for definite because occasionally i have a second or third open.
I'll try and summarize what i've seen and been doing:
1. I was using 2 and sometimes 3 IDEs at a time for several weeks and in this situation i was getting hangs a lot (probably every few hours). However, i didn't report anything, mainly because it was easier just to kill the process, rebuild the db and get on with things.
2. I then started using a single IDE. It hung and when i reopened the IDE i got the flush problem. This was the point i first posted.
3. Since then i have been mainly using a single IDE although I have occasionally had 2 open at the same time. I haven't noticed it hanging when i've had 2 IDEs open. However, this difference between now and (1.) is that back then i was doing a lot of coding in both IDEs but now i generally only briefly open a 2nd IDE to look at code rather than make any changes. I'm pretty sure that every time it has hung since i moved back to using a single IDE, it's been with a single IDE open.
Here are things i have noticed. I have no idea whether they mean anything or not though...
1. I _think_ things have got worse since installing VS2005 SP1. However, everyone else at work has this and they have no problems.
2. Things seem better now i've got Intellisense turned off but i have been doing less coding this week so that may mean nothing.
3. I seem to be getting hangs later in the day. This could be because over the last few days, my mornings have been more designing and less coding. Or maybe it could be because usually by the end of the day i will have opened and closed a second IDE. Or maybe its nothing!
4. We are working on multiple releases of the same software so when i open a 2nd IDE it's usually to look at code for a different release so the files will be fairly similar. I definitely did this today, an hour or so before today's hang. I doubt this could confuse VA but i thought i'd mention it.
Anyway, next week i'll disable McAfee for a bit and turn on logging. Hope you have a nice weekend  |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 16 2007 : 1:10:11 PM
*goes and checks*
A fix has been put in for the VAR:: exception, which should stop that being thrown, but so far the developers are still looking into the deadlock RickA is seeing.
kate_m the "FOO::" exception seems to be a different problem, and I am a little more concerned about this. You are seeing these problems with only one IDE running? I am juggling various hard bug reports at the moment, so it is good to double check my facts and make sure I am not mixing people up
Would you be able to turn on VA's logging please when you load the IDE, and leave it turned on? Then when the IDE crashes can you back up and delete the log files:
c:\\va.log
c:\\vassist.log
c:\\Program Files\\Visual Assist X\\Startup.log
you may not see all three, but you probably will. This should give us some more information about this FOO:: exception, assuming it happens again, and hopefully some clues to the cause of these crashes.
If you are able to disable McAfee completely then please do, but not for to long. The last thing we need is you getting a virus infection on top of everything else. I doubt this will make any difference, but it is something we can try. |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 16 2007 : 12:10:22 PM
Well, all was looking promising but it's happened again. I used ProcessExplorer to get a call stack for VA and the CSwitch Delta column shows va_x.dll doing ~176 (don't know if that's significant but its _way_ more than any other thread). A quick look in the error log shows 2 lines:
Exception: VAR::1125 2/16/2007 16:35:12 0x21c
Exception: VAR::1125 2/16/2007 16:35:13 0x21c
Also from yesterday i had the following lines. I don't remember any hang round about this time so i don't know if they're significant in any way but i thought i'd include them in case they're helpful.
Exception: FOO::701 2/15/2007 15:50:38 0x778
Exception: VAR::1125 2/15/2007 15:50:38 0x778
I have screenshots of ProcessExplorer and the va_x.dll call stack. I was going to attach them but see that you can't do that so let me know if you want me to send them to you.
I'm kind of at a loss for what to do now. I've removed BoundsChecker, doxycomment and have changed my McAfee settings. Would it be worth disabling McAfee altogether? |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 3:09:14 PM
RickA, I have the log files, thank you for these, I will ask the developers if they help.
quote:
Originally posted by RickA
Is there an easy way to rebuild the database without it first loading?
There is, simply delete the directory:
C:\\Program Files\\Visual Assist X\\vc8\
and all of the files and directories inside of it. This will delete VA's symbol database for VS2005. |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 1:04:34 PM
That is very interesting indeed! See my reply to RickA part way down page two about anti-virus, "Feb 14 2007 : 07:23:47"
I wonder if it will make any difference. |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 12:54:54 PM
Well my colleague (whose VA works) just remembered his virus scan is configured to ignore certain things (including the VA install dir and all source code) which is different to mine which scans everything. So i've set up my virus scan properties to be the same as his and i'll try that tomorrow.
Thanks for keeping going on this |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 12:46:14 PM
kate_m I asked since it looks like the exception was thrown, and caught when checking which refactoring operations are available, so they can be enabled / disabled on the menu. While this is not right, it should not be causing the whole IDE to crash *sigh*
RickA, please submit the log files via the form:
http://www.wholetomato.com/support/contact.asp
including this thread ID or URL in the description, so we can match it up. |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 11:34:27 AM
Oh, and yes i was only using one IDE. |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 11:15:26 AM
All the lines are identical apart for the time. There are 14 lines, the first at 14:35:40 and the last at 14:37:04
I think i had done a Create Implementation although how close to the time of the problem, i don't know. I'll try and look out for this. I do use the refactoring a lot, particularly Rename, Create Implementation, Extract Method and Move Implementation to Source. Although i'm pretty sure I haven't done Rename, Extract Method or Move Implementation to Source today. |
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 11:12:31 AM
Unbelievably, I've just had it again, after only a few minutes. The first IDE (with many projects) hung. After the previous hang, I'd cleared all the VA stuff, and rebuilt databases. I'd turned on logging on that IDE only, so can get you any log files you want. Which ones do you want, and where can I send them? (stupidly I restarted Visual Studio already again, so I assume those logs are gone already? I'm sure I'll have more soon). |
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 10:58:18 AM
Another hang. Again one IDE goes down, then the other gives the flush db message. Another log here at the time of the hang.
I have not yet noticed that it is always the same IDE that hangs, but will pay attention to that next time (which should be today at this frequency). Now that you mentioned it, it does seem to happen to the solution with many projects most of the time, and I do start that up first normally. I have tried rebuilding the databases regularly, although haven't done it after each and every crash/hang. Will start doing that, just to rule things out. Is there an easy way to rebuild the database without it first loading?
Will try disabling Norton tomorrow.
EDLck UnLocked::1152 2/15/2007 15:17:47 0xb38
EDLck Locked::1117 2/15/2007 15:17:47 0xb38
Exception: VAR::1125 2/15/2007 15:17:48 0xdbc
EDLck Wait::1114 2/15/2007 15:29:49 0x118
EDLck Wait::1114 2/15/2007 15:29:50 0x118
EDLck Wait::1114 2/15/2007 15:29:51 0x118
EDLck Wait::1114 2/15/2007 15:29:52 0x118
|
| feline |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 10:26:57 AM
kate_m, were you only running one IDE when this happened?
Are all of the exception lines saying "VAR::" ?
Have you been doing any refactoring just before the problem occurred?
It does seem that we can ignore BoundsChecker. Now if we could just find out what was going on here *sigh* Don't worry, I am very bloody minded, and I want to get to the bottom of this. |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 10:04:17 AM
Well i've been running with BoundsChecker uninstalled and have just had a problem. No hang this time, but VA just stopped working - no Autotext or Alt-G etc. I closed and reopened Visual Studio, but devenv.exe was left lying around so i got the flush message.
I had a look in errors.log and there's a few exception lines from round about the time when things stopped working which all say:
Exception: VAR::1125 2/15/2007 14:37:04 0xeac
I'm now going to try removing McAfee to see what happens... |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 10:00:06 AM
Editing posts, you should be able to edit your own posts quite easily, just click on the icon of a pen on a piece of paper.
My working theory is the hang with only one open IDE is caused by VA's symbol database becoming corrupt. I suspect this was caused by the hang when using two IDE's. So deleting / rebuilding the symbol database should fix this.
Have you tried excluding the VA install directory from your anti virus? It is a long shot, but worth a try.
When you are getting problems with the two IDE's is it normally the first or second IDE you launch that has the problems? Can you predict, fairly reliably, which IDE will fail? The reason I ask is that log files are next. Ideally if the first IDE launched is the one that will hang then enable logging in this IDE only, and then when the problem occurs we search through the logs in search of any clues to the cause.
We may need to try this twice, one set of log files for the IDE that crashes, and a second set of log files for the IDE that is fine, but I am trying to avoid both IDE's, both instances of VA logging at the same time, since this is likely to make for rather confusing log files.
Please see this FAQ for details of turning on VA's logging, and sending us the log files
http://docs.wholetomato.com?W305 |
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 07:31:58 AM
And another hang, only one IDE, no message in the statusbar. I took a look at the VA log file, and a number of entries that jumped out at me (I didn't check the exact time of the crash, but I would put it at around 12:20):
GetSymDef idx c:\\program files\\visual assist x\\vc8\\CPP\\Db4Ds.db is corrupt, fid=0x9ee9b7, rel=0x1cc, act=0x3aa228 tid=4044 uiTid=3360:194 2/15/2007 12:19:59 0xfcc
Exception: VAR::1125 2/15/2007 12:21:26 0xd20
Exception: VAR::1125 2/15/2007 12:22:08 0xd20
Exception: VAR::1125 2/15/2007 12:23:02 0xd20
|
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 07:04:23 AM
Just noticed when I closed the not-hung IDE, it closed quickly, but when I went to kill the process of the hung IDE, there were still two devenv.exe processes. That isn't supposed to happen is it?
(PS, I can't edit posts here can I?) |
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 07:01:53 AM
And once more, after another two hours. One hung IDE, status bar says 'VA X: Parsing _filename_'. The other IDE is still fully functional at the moment, although it does say it's waiting for the other instance to flush the database.
The file it is parsing was only open in one IDE (the not hung IDE had no open files at the time). The hung IDE is the one with many projects. I'd just loaded one of them, F12 (go to definition) into one of the files in the newly loaded project, took a quick look at the code there (couple of seconds) then CTRL+TAB into another file, and that's when it hung. The file it says it's parsing is the one I'd F12 into, and had just CTRL+TAB out of.
Hope this helps somewhat. Wasn't able to get a stack due to the same problem about the missing PDB files mentioned in my earlier post. Will restart my system entirely and post about any other hangs I get. |
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 04:40:28 AM
Well, just had this happen again, about 30 minutes in. I was typing in one IDE (just entering a string literal), when it hung. Attempting to attach the other debugger didn't give me a callstack I'm afraid. Then I noticed that the non-hung IDE was displaying the message 'VA X: Waiting for other instance of Visual Studio to fluch DB...'.
If you have any idea how I might get a callstack I'll take suggestions for the next time. FYI, the output window of the IDE I was attempting to attach to the hung IDE was complaining about a non-existing PDB file:
"C:\\WINDOWS\\assembly\\GAC_32\\mscorlib\\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\\mscorlib.dll: Cannot find or open the PDB file.
C:\\WINDOWS\\assembly\\GAC_MSIL\\Microsoft.VisualStudio.CommonIDE\\8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\\Microsoft.VisualStudio.CommonIDE.dll: Cannot find or open the PDB file.
C:\\WINDOWS\\assembly\\GAC_MSIL\\System\\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\\System.dll: Cannot find or open the PDB file.
C:\\WINDOWS\\assembly\\GAC_MSIL\\System.Windows.Forms\\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\\System.Windows.Forms.dll: Cannot find or open the PDB file.
C:\\WINDOWS\\assembly\\GAC_MSIL\\System.Drawing\\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\\System.Drawing.dll: Cannot find or open the PDB file." |
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 15 2007 : 03:57:37 AM
After running yesterday with only one instance of VS with VA turned on, I've had no hangs, no crashes, no problems at all. I'll try today with two instances again, and assuming I do get a hang, try to get the callstack.
Haven't tried the anti virus thing. If I do get the hangs today, I'll have a go at that tomorrow. |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 14 2007 : 1:33:32 PM
kate_m, I would love to point the finger at BoundsChecker, for the simple reason that it has problems with VS2005 SP1, but that may be totally unfair. Certainly I am interested to hear this news, and the results of your further testing. |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 14 2007 : 12:30:37 PM
Just a quick update. I couldn't see an easy way to disable BoundsChecker so i disabled VA instead and everything's been fine today.
What i'll do tomorrow is re-enable VA but uninstall BoundsChecker (it doesn't work with VS2005 SP1, so it's not doing me much good at the moment anyway).
Depending on how that goes, i'll see whether i need to try disabling McAfee. |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 14 2007 : 07:23:47 AM
RickA you may want to have a look at this OLD thread:
http://forum.wholetomato.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=3712&whichpage=2
Where a certain version of Norton anti-virus would cause problems that sound similar to yours. Do note that this was August 2005, so hopefully it has been long since fixed, unless you are running an old Norton engine with up to date definitions.
Still it might be worth trying the fix, to see if it makes any difference. |
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 14 2007 : 02:52:32 AM
quote:
Originally posted by feline
This is a little confusing , RickA are you talking about the hang kate_m has just reported?
Sorry about the confusion, I should have worded that post better. I had 3 separate instances where my IDE hung and wouldn't react to anything. It sounds like the same symptoms Kate has (I'm not using Boundschecker though).
After running yesterday with two IDEs but disabling VA immediately at startup I've had no problems. This seems to imply that the hangs are caused by VA. I'll start today by again running a single instance with VA turned ON. If it hangs I'll try and get the callstack. I'll check the page during the day to see if you have any other testing requests. We're using Norton Anti-virus here.
Again, thanks for staying on top of this. |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 13 2007 : 1:49:18 PM
Very occasionally we see problems caused by anti-virus programs, but I do not know of any current outstanding problems. If it is easy to do you may want to try disabling McAfee for a few hours and see if this makes any difference. Given how frequent this problem is, this might tell you something fairly quickly.
Some problem with BoundsChecker, or an interaction problem between BoundsChecker and VA is suddenly looking possible. Can you have a look at this FAQ:
http://docs.wholetomato.com?W306
As it explains you have to use a registry key to stop VA from loading in VS2005. I don't use BoundsChecker myself, but there is probably a very similar registry key you can use to stop its plugin loading without having to uninstall it. Can you have a look, and see if there is?
If so I am thinking close / kill off all devenv.exe processes, then stop BoundsChecker from loading. If this works see if this makes any difference to this problem.
If it makes no difference can you try disabling VA instead? I am trying to change just one variable at a time here.
As for being helpful, we do try I have been the unfortunate person trying to get tech support far to often, so I know how I want to be treated when there is a problem |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 13 2007 : 12:18:33 PM
I'm that keen to find out what's going on that its still open! I had to open up another IDE to get some work done, which i then closed and this left another devenv.exe lying around. I've got the call stack from both and they look identical. DevPartner - hmmmm - they're the BoundsChecker people. Please don't let this be a BoundsChecker problem - you guys are so much more helpful than they are
I've got McAfee Virus Scan and my PC isn't unusual as far as i know.
[In a sleep, wait, or join]
>mscorlib.dll!System.Threading.WaitHandle.WaitAny(System.Threading.WaitHandle[] waitHandles, int millisecondsTimeout, bool exitContext) + 0x63 bytes
DevPartner.Injector.Config.dll!DevPartner.Shared.Injector.Config.InjectorEventListener.WaitForInjectorEvent() + 0x60 bytes
mscorlib.dll!System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(object state) + 0x3b bytes
mscorlib.dll!System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext executionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback callback, object state) + 0x81 bytes
mscorlib.dll!System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart() + 0x40 bytes
*edit by feline to make this word wrap better* |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 13 2007 : 11:59:36 AM
This is a little confusing , RickA are you talking about the hang kate_m has just reported?
kate_m are you able to grab a call stack from this hung IDE? Or have you already closed it? You have probably closed it by now.
What anti-virus software are you using on your machine?
Is there anything "odd" about the machine? |
| RickA |
Posted - Feb 13 2007 : 09:33:06 AM
Sorry, just to be clear, it hung ie was still visible, but did not respond to anything. Not a crash as in suddenly closes and everything is gone. |
| kate_m |
Posted - Feb 13 2007 : 09:18:06 AM
Right, Visual Studio has just hung on me. I only have one IDE open, intellisense is disabled and I'd just typed m_
The weird thing is that i think my system was pretty much idle. I didn't notice any CPU spikes and the status bar doesn't show VAX as parsing files.
I don't know if you have any way of getting info out of a hung process, but I'll leave the IDE as it is for as long as i can before i have to get back to work in case you have any ideas! |
| feline |
Posted - Feb 13 2007 : 07:54:52 AM
Thank you for checking this. Running two IDE's with VA enabled has been known to cause problems, but we thought all of those bugs had been fixed.
The IDE crashes bother me slightly as well. I am not always a world class fan of VS2005, but it does not normally crash. |
